State: Farmworkers to 'shelter in place' from pesticides
Source: Associated Press
Updated 4:39 pm CDT, Tuesday, July 3, 2018
SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Farmers will be allowed to let farmworkers and their families "shelter in place" in their on-site housing when aerial pesticides are being sprayed after objections from some growers that newly updated rules were too intrusive, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
Oregon farmers had objected to the proposed rules that required the evacuation of workers within 100 feet of where trucks and planes are spraying pesticides, The Capital Press reported. That's because fruit growers in the Columbia River Gorge, in particular, spray in the early morning and would have had to wake farmworkers up to comply.
Approximately two-thirds of Oregon's 314 registered labor camps are in Wasco and Hood River counties, home to most of the state's pear and cherry orchards.
The Oregon Occupational Health and Safety Administration now says alternatively, workers can remain in their housing during early-morning spraying as long as doors, windows and air intakes are closed and the pesticides don't require the use of a respirator on the label.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/State-Farmworkers-to-shelter-in-place-from-13046990.php
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